Welcome!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Red-headed Neanderthals

Probably this fact is already well-known...

BBC reported that a research team extracted DNA from the remains of two Neanderthals and retrieved part of a gene called MC1R. In modern people, a mutation in this gene causes red hair. Until this discovery, no one knew what hair colour our extinct relatives had: by analysing a version of the gene in Neanderthals, the scientists found that they were flame-haired.